Did anyone else have to Google Travis Scott?

/\  don't know who he is but I ain't Googling him

re no more camp mocs at Bean, it doesn't seem like that big a deal, the aficionado would not be getting his camp mocs there anyway, not for years ....

not when you can readily obtain great ones from Quoddy, Russell, Rancourt, and Oak Street

not slamming Bean though, they know there's a group who want things the way they were, same with Brooks Brothers and its old customers, but they have been doing well with their current models ..... I'm sure they don't want to lose that smaller group of aficionados but it comes down to what the customers are buying, Bean and Brooks do not lead their customers anymore, the customers and the trends lead them .....

Bean had iconic items like the Bean boots, Maine Hunting Shoes, blucher mocs, camp mocs, ranger mocs, Baxter States, brown canvas duffles, and wool camp blankets, and canvas tote bags

last year I found a very large Bean tote bag, off-white with maroon, in a closet, holding some 35-year-old blueprints ... I tossed the old blueprints, washed the bag, it was such a bonus find because I never buy maroon or crimson anything and this tote bag gives my scene a shot of a color that contrasts nicely with the sea of blue stuff I have

now it's filled with beach towels ... 35-year-old tough thing

miss the old Bean, if their blucher mocs were as good as the pair I have from them, which I got in '97, I'd still be a customer ... I've had two pairs of blucher mocs since '79, first was  Maine-made but unlabeled, from the Co-Op, identical to the Bean, with proper and indestructible camp sole, but for several dollars less, so the word was out to get them at the Co-Op, plain white box, blue/white striped paper shopping bag, set ablaze in the fireplace in the dark it would burn in blue and white striped flames for a few seconds ......

those were the best, they lasted 19 years before the leather gave out at the outside toes, had them resoled perfectly in NYC in '96 but after two more years, the leather gave out, but I saved the Goodyear camp soles I had recently had put on 

meanwhile, when the original Co-Op pair was in the shop getting resoled in '96 I ordered a back-up pair, from Bean itself this time, and when the Co-Op pair from '79 finally cracked in '98 after two decades of steady use, including lots of travel, I started wearing the Beans ...

wore them from '98 to about '07, then the soles needed replacing, and I had the shoemaker stitch the Goodyear soles from the '96 Co-Op pair resoling onto the '96 Bean replacement pair, perfect fit, back in business ..... that pair of Beans from '98 is what I still have today and they're still excellent though the soles started to wear out around 2010 ....

I Shoe Goo'd them real well and they kept it together for a couple of years but eventually they needed a resoling, so I sent them to Maine to a now-defunct repair shop recommended   by Bean, and they refurbished them nicely, with nice soles, but not true camp soles with the bell-shaped indentation, more like Russell's brown boat soles

last year they got new Taslan laces, they're for the hardcore that remembers the heyday, which is basically very few people, and that's alright too

the important thing about JFK lounging on a yacht is not that he's wearing this or that shoe or sneaker, it's the yacht and the woman, though the cigar, back brace, ice cream cone, and striped crew socks are also key as is his first-rate no-sock look ... also he would pick up anybody's sweater and just put it on, regardless of size or color ... because he could

but assuming arguendo that there's someone who doesn't want to look like JFK chilling on a boat or yacht, there's always RFK and JFK, Jr.

currently I have a pair of Russell camp mocs, they call them canoe mocs, I like them, there's no metal on them, they're pretty roots, would buy again ....

Stan laying down the knowledge yet again. Great, great post.

Truth - LL Bean camp mocs (and blucher mocs) have been sh*t for years. Quoddy and Russell would be my go-tos - probably Russell even over Quoddy for a camp moc. Or vintage Bean if you can find them - I remember An Affordable Wardrobe nabbed a beautiful old pair of Bean blucher mocs, what a find...

Ehh, I disagree. They were always functional, but certainly in the 1980s and even early 1990s the quality was great. The point was never simply to wear them out, because they offered repairs. Now it's not even worth it getting them repaired.

I too bemoan the drop in quality at Bean. My point if I had one was that they weren't a "the best of the best" company they were just good & affordable.
What once was ordinary quality in their day now seems exceptional.
The brands Stan cites, Quoddy, Russell, et al., are doing something different that Bean never went in for. They self-consciously make a very good although expensive product.
This makes me think of Dave Mercer's shirts - What was once just churned out of factories like the wonderful Sero Mercer now make as a quality product with a price tag which reflects that.
Things move on.

Greats posts gentlemen.  Loved the camp Mocs.  Re: pricing.  I recall the Bean Norwegian Sweater being $30 some odd dollars back in the 80's -- could that memory be correct?  I don't know what export pricing was like then from Norway, plus a host of other factors.  Same with the Irish fishing sweaters.  A different world now.  Vis a vis pricing and value:  I've always thought that relatively speaking the pricing was higher then than now (adjusted for inflation).  Maybe not.  Obviously there was more manufacturing.  You had Hawthaway making button down shirts ($25 and under?). And all that shoe manufacturing in upstate NY, Mass, Maine, etc.  To get that Bean quality today though, you'd have to pay a bit more, no?  Or am I just lost the mists of time?

I have a variety of camp and/or blucher mocs. Or perhaps canoe. Old Eastland, new Eastland. LL Bean Jackman (which I like), LL Bean Signature (which I don't). Quoddy before the hipsters discovered them -- under $100 before, $250-300 after.

And a pair of outlet Bass that are identical to the old LLB blucher moc. Found those about 10 years ago.

That's enough of that particular sort of shoe to be going on with, I think. Plus boat shoes, which I file in the same category. I go through at least one pair of LL Bean Casco Bay boat shoes per year.

I admire the Rancourts and Russells etc. but there is no way I am spending that kind of money on a shoe that is going to get abused. If I only planned to walk on quiet streets and in leafy glades, I might get some Rancourts.

Last edited by Patrick (2019-01-15 05:31:28)

That will do it!

two late observations.  I never really read through Chenner's site but I can appreciate some really good content on there.  Second, I'd love to know what kind of discussions within Bean were being had when they started off-shoring.  Bottom line, fine.  Need to grow, fine.  They were always committed to the environment, Bean family had supported a lot of good work in Maine, etc etc.  I wonder how much discussion there was with all that industry that still remained and could've been propped up (maybe "just") with Bean as a customer.  Shoes, shirts, et al.  Having said that, I understand having to make "tough" business decisions.  And I'm not a fanatic about offshoring overall but my heart certainly isn't in it.  I know it's an old saw, but I bring it up anyway.